Strengths

When analyzing the interviews in regards of obtaining an understanding of what the employees’

picture as the bank’s strengths, there were some aspects which were repeatedly mentioned throughout the interviews; the bank’s innovativeness, trustworthiness, the digital solutions, the brand, and business model about being both relational and digital. Strengths are according to Morrison (2016)

51 seen as positive attributes of the given company, which makes them attractive for the customers in the market.

Innovative and modern

Some of the respondents indicated that they believe a large strength of the bank is its innovativeness and how modern the bank is. Respondent E4 mentions investments in innovative companies; “Take Boost AI that you have probably heard of, which we own 17% of and which was started up as a result of a case we did in SR-bank. (...) They have just opened office in London and LA. It was a technology that we believed in” (Appendix J). This shows that they believe in new technology and are very interested in it. Respondent E5 believes the organizational structure is a part of how modern the bank is; “But we are a very modern company, working in cross-functional teams. Meaning, the business side, the market side, the developers - everyone is working in a team together. So, we have 19 cross-functional teams, each of which is really a Fintech-company” (Appendix J).

Several of the respondents believe that one of the largest strengths which the bank possesses is the ability to be early on delivering new solutions. Respondent E1 mentions how the alliance provides the strength of giving the banks the ability to try out things in advance of other banks; “Using that alliance as an advantage, we made our own APIs, we also said; okay, can we then show accounts from another Sparebank 1 bank?. Then we tried it out in advance, we could make the entire onboarding solution before that time” (Appendix J). Respondent E4 confirms this by saying “two years ago you could actually get your Sparebank 1 SMN bank account, for an example, into the mobile bank even if you were an SR-Bank customer” (Appendix J). According to respondent E5, the employees believe that the bank is several years ahead of the competitors, which will cause the competitors to spend a lot of energy on catching up to them. Respondent E2 further emphasizes on this by saying that they do not need “to rig technology orders or projects, etc., they can deliver on changes” (Appendix J) indicating that they can change things very fast and always be up-to-date on their projects and services. This is mentioned as a strength because it means that the bank always will have the most modern solutions and instead of waiting for the customer to request something, and become impatient when waiting, they will have it served to them before that point.

Trustworthiness

Another factor repeatedly mentioned as a perceived strength for the bank is the trustworthiness among

52 customers. According to respondent E7, the bank believes itself to be “extremely safe” for their customers, which is further confirmed by respondent E1 who says that “the biggest asset is our trustworthiness, that one might not want to hand out lots of information to companies such as Google and Facebook” (Appendix J). The respondent believes this gives an advantage over these companies, and further elaborates that “these players have had some scandals about this and are unable to handle just what we are so good at” (Appendix J). Respondent E5 believes that banks alongside with authorities, in general, have gained a lot of trust in the Norwegian market, which will give them an advantage in comparison to the new players trying to enter the market; “SoMe is at the bottom of the trust scale when it comes to financial services here in Norway” (Appendix J). Trust is mentioned as a strength by respondent E3 as well, by saying from a customer-perspective “price is one thing, but I trust this bank, and I can talk to someone if there are any uncertainties” (Appendix J) and indicates by this that the employees believe that trust is a more important factor than price for many of their customers.

Digital Solutions

Throughout the interviews, the digital solutions provided by the bank were mentioned as a perceived strength several times. When E4 is asked about what he believes to be the bank’s largest strength the respondent answers; “I think that is our digital platform” (Appendix J). Respondent E5 elaborates on this by saying that they believe to be well rigged technologically and that the bank has “a digital platform that is very dynamic and we have a development dynamic that is agile” (Appendix J).

Respondent E7 says “at least we should not be the bank that is associated with having the most difficult solutions for the customers and I think that is a valid idea whether one is young or not”

(Appendix J), meaning that the respondent further believes that the digital solutions are very good and that it is an advantage in all age-groups.

Especially the mobile bank was mentioned to be one of the best products the bank is offering.

According to E5, “We have Norway’s coolest mobile bank, it scores 4.6 in Appstore” (Appendix J).

The respondent further elaborates; “you can go in to see what some of the famous apps you normally use and see what they score. I think Facebook is in somewhere around a score on 2, and Snapchat maybe a bit on top of the 3’s, and the mobile bank for Sparebank 1 at 4.6. So, we are very proud of it” (Appendix J). Respondent E4 confirms this by saying that the mobile bank is “voted as the best mobile bank in Norway” (Appendix J). As a part of the strength of having this mobile bank,

53 Respondent E7 argues that “Getting into our customer flow, where we have 20 million logins in the mobile bank alone every month, is a traffic flow that others who are entering the market can only dream of” (Appendix J) which explains how valuable the employees believe the mobile bank to be.

This is also confirmed by respondent E5 who says that “Our customers are 33 times a month in average on the mobile bank, it can compete with anyone, and it is eight times as often as Vipps.”

(Appendix J).

Brand

Another attribute mentioned by the respondents is the strength of having a well-known brand.

Respondent E6 explains this with “We have very many values both financially and in the market with being a super brand.” (Appendix J). Respondent E4 confirms this by saying “I think our brand is very strong and so I think that we are quite early on the digital and have some of the smartest solutions, such as our mobile bank” (Appendix J). Respondent E7 elaborates on how the employees are aware of the possible confusion by being fourteen different banks using the same brand but says that “there is something about the strength in a larger brand, and this is a well-known problem”

(Appendix J). The respondent further elaborates on this by saying “The strength of this is that one has a much greater market power than compared to if one stood alone” (Appendix J).

Relational and Digital

One of the strengths which were brought up continuously throughout the interviews is how the bank is combining local affiliations with providing high-quality digital solutions. E4 puts it quite simply by saying “having a very good set of services digitally, but also having the opportunity for the customers to meet us” (Appendix J). This is elaborated more on by respondent E2; “(...) the first aspect I think is an advantage is that we still have a branch structure that gives us physical contact with the customer which is a unique position to have, and give the emotional connection to the customer” (Appendix J). Respondent E6 and E1, confirms this by saying “we have the strength of banking cooperation, we have a huge development organization. It’s a strength. So, I think we have a relationship element that not everyone else has, we are local, we give back to the community” and

“I think our strength is that we are "close" and "skilled". (...) We have a very good development environment here in Oslo which we believe supports that vision very much” (Appendix J). It is further emphasized that this is an advantage compared to the banks that are choosing to only focus on the digital. Henceforth, Respondent E1 says “We are a financial house, we are a complete range of

54 services that the other banks do not have. So, we have both insurance and debt collection cases. We have services for everything possible, which is one of our advantages” (Appendix J).

Furthermore, E6 believes that Sparebank 1 is differentiated from the other banks, and when being asked about if it is easy to copy what the bank is doing the respondent says; “No, I don’t think so and that is why we should be so raw about the local presence and the relations bank and our social promise cannot be copied. The whole Sparebank 1 model is that one is for the society and one cannot copy that” (Appendix J). Respondent E7 also believes that spending money on understanding the customer groups, provides the bank with advantages; “we spend a lot of money on positioning ourselves in relation to the customer groups and we know a little about how the customer groups that are positive to our brand look like, and who they are” (Appendix J).